What does this mean?
by Jayno
Summary: Spoiler 5x01. Jane needs to talk to Lisbon about the things that neither of them seem to want to say.
1. Tired of Pretending

So this is my first fan fiction for The Mentalist. I am very nervous about it. Please let me know what you think. I might make this story a series of one shots. Will see how inspiration strikes. I don't own the characters or show at all.

Jane picked up the blue lace material that had previously been artfully been draped over a stack of books. "Lisbon!"

"One second Jane." Lisbon turned back to Walter Carson's step-son Elliot "so you knew that he had the book but you had never seen it?"

The young man shook his head "no; I hadn't… I didn't even know if it was real."

"Lisbon!" Jane's voice was more insistent now; more grating.

"I'm sorry; I'll be back with you in a second." Lisbon smiled at the man before stomping over to Jane "Jane" she hissed "you can't yell at me until you get my attention."

Jane simply smiled and pointed to the stack of books. There sitting on the top was Walter Carson's copy of the first folio of William Shakespeare's plays.

Without a second to lose Lisbon spun around to face Elliot "put your hands up."

Elliot complied before turning on his heel and running.

"Why do they always run?" Jane pondered as he headed to the kitchen to make some tea.

A few hours later the team sat down for another close case pizza.

"I can't believe Elliot killed his step Dad over a book." Rigsby stuffed more pizza into his mouth.

"Not just a book Rigsby" Jane place his tea on the table "a first folio edition of Shakespeare worth over $3 million."

Rigsby almost chocked.

"What I can't believe is that we managed to solve the case without a huge Jane production." Cho deadpanned.

"That's true" Jane mused "I must be slipping." Jane then launched into the plan that he'd had in mind – it was elaborate and vaguely dangerous as always but it probably would have worked. Maybe.

Cho was the first to leave followed by Van Pelt and finally Rigsby.

"Typical leaving us to clean up." Jane stood staking the pizza boxes up. "I'm not your girlfriend I'm an officer of the law".Those words that Lisbon had said a few weeks ago continued to haunt him. _What did she mean by that?_

Lisbon rolled her eyes "you never help clean up."

"Meh" he shrugged "first time for everything."

Standing up Lisbon helped Jane clean up before heading to her office to turn off the lights.

"Ready dear Lisbon?"

Lisbon frowned "ready for what?"

"Well" Jane placed his hand on the small of Lisbon's back and led her to the elevators "we need to talk."

Lisbon rolled her eyes once again "we don't need to talk" she announced punching the button for the ground floor.

"The way you just assaulted that poor button says otherwise. Just humour me."

She continued to frown as she stared straight ahead. "Every time I humour you I get shot at, suspended or kidnapped."

"None of those things will happen this time Teresa." He assured looking down at her.

If he hadn't called her by first name there is no way that she would have believed him but something about the way her name fell from his lips made her want to believe. Sighing she looked up at him "Okay."

"Okay?"

She nodded.

Jane's signature smile fell on his lips. "Thank you Teresa."

She couldn't help but smile in return "Patrick?"

"Hmmm:

"I like that."

"What my dear?"

"I like it when you call me Teresa" she blushed.

A small chuckle left his lips "I like saying it."

The moment was broken when the elevator dinged and the doors slid open to revel the foyer of the CBI building. Silently both occupants left the elevator and headed to the parking lot.

"My place?" Lisbon suggested as she unlocked her car. Jane nodded and headed to his own 'death trap' to follow her.

Jane noticed that Lisbon had left the door unlocked for him. Quietly he stepped inside her apartment and closed the door. He smiled as he saw her sitting on the sofa nursing a hot drink.

"I made you tea. It's Earl Grey"

"Perfect" Jane removed his jacket, sat down next to her and sipped his drink.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Smacking his lips together in delight he carefully placed his drink back on the coffee table. "I wanted to talk about something that you said the other week."

"Okay." Instinctively she brought her legs up towards her torso.

"Lisbon" he turned to look at her "Teresa" he said softly. "After I kissed Lorelai"

Lisbon closed her eyes at these words. Not wanting Jane to see the hurt that dwelled there.

"After I kissed Lorelai you said something to me."

She nodded; encouraging him to continue.

"You said I'm not your girlfriend, I'm an officer of the law."

"Well it's true" Lisbon answered so quietly that Jane struggled to hear her.

He nodded as he considered his next move.

"What did you mean by that?" Shuffling closer he turned his body and placed one leg on the sofa and faced her.

"I meant exactly what I said." She replied looking down that her legs.

"Teresa" he whispered "please don't lie to me."

Her head whipped up to look at him "why not? You lie to me all the time."

"That's different" he reasoned picking imaginary threads off the jacket.

"Why is it different?" Lisbon's eyes narrowed.

Jane's eyes locked onto hers "Because I lie to protect you."

"I don't need your protection Jane"

Jane shrugged and looked away "meh. Maybe not but I'm going to do it anyway. I want to protect the people that I care about."

"I care about you too Patrick."

"I know" he whispered leaning into her.

A silence fell over the room as they both finished there cups of tea. Jane used the silence to think. _Red John is still out there; still determined to make my life hell. But I'm so tired pretending._

"I meant it." He mumbled not realising that he had said it out loud.

Lisbon frowned at him "meant what?"

Jane's wide eyes looked at her. "Nothing."

"Jane!" Lisbon groaned "can we for once have a conversation where we don't lie to each other."

Closing his eyes he allowed a small smile to form. "What I said before I shot you; I meant it."

Lisbon's beautiful green eyes became impossibly wider. "You-you did?"

Jane nodded and once again moved closer "I did."

The blush that Jane had come to love brushed over Lisbon's cheeks.

"I hate that you kissed her" she moved uncomfortably in her seat. "I hate that you had sex with her."

"Because of Red John?"

Lisbon nodded her head "yes but also because…." She bit her lip and her eyes begged for Jane to not make her say anything more.

"Teresa please; honesty remember?"

"Yes because of Red John but also because; I was jealous. I am jealous." Lisbon took a deep breath _no point in stopping now. _"I hate that she got to t-touch you. That she got to kiss you. That you touched her and made love to her."

"Lisbon" Jane's voice sounded apologetic.

Shaking her head Lisbon continued her confession. "M-most of all Patrick I hate that it wasn't me."

All of the air in Jane's lungs left him. His heart was about to leap out of his chest; opening his mouth he gulped down mouthfuls of air.

"I wanted it to be me Patrick. I wanted to be the one that you made love to after Angela." A shaky breath escaped her lips and she sunk further into the sofa.

"Teresa; I didn't make love to Lorelai; I had sex with her."

The hurt in Lisbon's eyes was obvious but she was too upset to care.

"There's a difference?" Her beautiful eyes looked up at him.

He nodded a little "for me there is. Sex is just a mechanical act but making love" he smiled "making love is a connection between two people a declaration of their feelings for one another." Carefully he reached out the touched the ends of her hair and let it fall between his fingers. "There was never any love between her and me. She loves Red John and I…" _Come on Patrick, you can do this it's Lisbon; your Lisbon. _"I love you." Jane felt a huge wait lift off of him; he'd finally said it again; this time he wouldn't play around, he would pretend that he forgot; after all Patrick Jane never forgot anything as important as saying I love you.

The look on her face would have been funny if the subject wasn't so serious. Her mouth and eyes were both wide open.

"There's a reason that Red John is so intent on having your head Teresa." He gently placed his hand on her knee "he knows that I love you. He knows that hurting you, killing you will be the one thing that brings me to my knees. He's always known. He knew I loved you before I did."

"How long have you?" She cursed her stupid shaky voice.

"A while now."

She frowned at him "how long is a while?"

"A few years."

"Years" she whispered.

"I've never said anything before now because of Angela but mostly I don't want him to hurt you my dear." His fingers lightly ran in a circle around her knee cap "but he seems intent on trying to get to you anyway and I can't…" he closed his eyes and took a deep breath "I can't pretend Teresa. I'm tired of pretending that you aren't the most important person in my life."

Slowly Lisbon moved to sit up on her knees "me too Patrick. I love you." Slowly her shaking hand made its way to his cheek. Her fingers gliding over his cheek bone. Her eyes locked on his as she moved to cup his cheek. She smiled as she saw his blue eyes flicking down to her lips and back to her eyes.

This was it the moment to turn away and convince Lisbon that he'd been hypnotised or coerced into claiming he had feelings for her but that would be a lie; a lie that he wasn't going to live anymore. He was going to allow himself to be happy Red John be damned.

Leaning towards her Jane brushed his thumb along her cheek.

Gently his lips brushed against hers. Lisbon slid her hand around to the back if his neck and pressed herself closer to him. Together their lips danced.

The feeling of guilt that Jane had felt when he kissed Lorelai wasn't present; all he could feel, taste and smell was Lisbon. Without a second thought he wrapped his arms around Lisbon's waist and pulled her into his lap. A tiny squeak escaped from Lisbon and Jane couldn't help but smile against her lips.

"Sorry" he whispered.

"S'okay" she replied as she adjusted her position before kissing him again. Shyly she ran her tongue along his top lip.

Jane hummed; opening his mouth and pressing his tongue to Lisbon's. His breath hitched as her fingers tangled into the hair on the back of his neck. Deftly his fingers caressed the strip of skin that showed on her lower back.

Gasping Lisbon pulled back and pressed her forehead to Jane's "better than I imagined."

"Me too. You're so beautiful Teresa."

Suddenly she pushed up onto her knees and banged into Jane causing him to fall on his back onto the sofa. "I love you Patrick" she whispered kissing down his neck.

Jane squeezed his eyes shut; it felt too good, too real – a moan escaped his lips before he had a chance to stop it.

"So sexy" Lisbon smiled against his skin.

Jane's ran his hands down Lisbon back and placed them on the glorious butt that he had caught himself staring at more them once. Feeling a little like an adventurous teenager he rolled his hips. "Oh god" he groaned "so good, you feel so good."

All too soon Lisbon pulled away from him. She chuckled at the pout on his lips. Leaning her chin on his chest she smiled down at him and ran her fingers through his golden locks "what does this mean Patrick?"

Jane frowned a little "it means that I love you so much and I want to be with you." His hands lightly trailed up and down her back "but Red John makes it complicated."

Stretching her neck she sweetly kissed his lips "He already knows that we love each other; I'm already a target." Closing her eyes she laid her head over his heart. "Please Patrick; I just want to be with you."

Jane tightened his grip on her "me too sweetheart," He whispered kissed the top of her head "I will do everything I can to keep you safe."

"You have to promise me something" she mumbled into his chest.

"Anything."

"Promise me you won't rip Red John to shreds when we catch him. I don't want to lose you."

A few deep breathes escaped from his lungs. "I'll try."

"Thank you: she smiled snuggling into him. "We'll be okay Patrick."

"I know my love."

And that's all she wrote. Let me know if you want me to continue as one shots of how they get together; or continue this story or leave it as is. Please review.


	2. I should go

Hi all; I have decided to continue this story. A few people have asked me about having a beta. I don't have one; I probably should due to the crapness of my grammar but I don't because I am very insecure about my writing. I love doing it but I have to push myself to post every single time I do. Having someone read my work in that way would freak me out – even though they'd be helping. I'm getting better and maybe in the future that will change. I don't own The Mentalist or its characters.

The feeling on Patrick's fingers splayed on her lower back felt like a warm fire soaking through her skin and into her soul. It made her feel safe and invincible like if Red John walked through the door right now she could kick his ass without even breaking a sweat. Lisbon laughed despite herself.

"What's so funny?" Jane wondered twister his fingers through her dark locks.

Lisbon shook her head "This"

Jane frowned as his grip loosened a little.

"It's just that" Lisbon continued "I never thought you'd felt the same."

"But I do." He smiled.

Lisbon hummed in agreement "yeah. I just never thought it would be like this, that I would feel like this."

Jane stayed quiet hoping she would elaborate.

"I just feel really safe with you. " Lisbon rolled her eyes at herself "I am such a girl."

"I should hope so" he joked "It's okay to feel that way. It's how you should feel with the person you love. I feel the same if it makes you feel any better."

"It does" she confessed.

"I feel calm, for the first time since Angela."

"Well I am glad that I can have that effect on you." Lisbon sighed as Jane ran his fingers through her hair.

"I should go."

Lisbon wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. _You can't leave, you only just got back, you can't leave me. Please, don't leave me._

Being the mentalist that he was Jane knew exactly what Lisbon was thinking and it broke his heart. "Hey, I'm just leaving to get some clothes and food. I'll be back in less than an hour." The look on Lisbon's face took the breath out of her lungs. Her bright green eyes were big and full of concern. Lifting his head Jane captured her lips in a sweet kiss "I'm not leaving Teresa, not again." Gently he ran his knuckles over her cheek.

Lisbon allowed herself to lean into the touch and her eyes closed in pleasure. "I guess I should let you go."

Silently she moved from Jane and stood beside the sofa giving him the space that he needed to get up. Looking directly into Lisbon's eyes he removed his waistcoat and placed it on the arm of the sofa with this jacket "this way you know I'll come back."

"Don't take too long" Lisbon whispered as she walked to him and wrapped her warms around his waist.

Kissing her head he allowed his lips to linger. Finally the feelings of guilt and revenge seemed to lessen a little. "I'll be back soon."

Lisbon nodded into his chest and dropped her arms from around his waist. The front door clicking shut threw her into action. Sprinting upstairs she headed to the bathroom. She knew that the drive to Jane's motel was about 15 minutes plus a food run meant she had about 55 minutes to make herself look presentable. She shook away the feelings of wanting to look nice for him. She'd never considered herself to be a particularly girly girl. She didn't generally dress up for guys she dated unless they were going somewhere nice, but she wanted to for Jane. "Patrick" she corrected herself. She'd realised a long time ago that'd she'd do anything for Patrick Jane – well almost anything.

The hot spray of the shower hit her body and she sighed in contentment.

Wrapped in a towel she rushed to her bedroom throwing her worn clothes in the hamper as she passed it. Standing in front of there closet she sighed. "What to wear?"

Jane left Lisbon's house smiling. He had learnt years ago to fake a smile and fake it well but this one was completely genuine. He'd told Teresa that he loved her and she had said it back. There was no way that life could get any better then this. The drive to his motel took less time then anticipated (speeding tends to do that.) Throwing the door open Jane stormed into the dimly lit room and pulled out a grey three piece suit, a charcoal suit and a few pieces he owned that were more casual. From the bathroom he grabbed his tooth brush. Deciding he wanted to get back to Lisbon as soon as possible he grabbed his shower gel and shampoo. He wasn't expecting Lisbon to sleep with him so soon but he hoped he'd be able to at least sleep next to her. Throwing all the chosen items into a bag Jane zipped it up and quickly left the motel and headed to the grocery store to buy some food for Lisbon's empty cupboards.

Wearing black skinny jeans and a red off the shoulder tee shirt Lisbon rushed around her room and cleaned up a little. She wondered if she was being a little presumptuous. She and Jane had only just gotten together and she was thinking about sleeping with him already. Immediately she froze – were they together? They'd never said anything. Sure they'd confessed their love for each other but they hadn't made anything official. Making a mental note to ask him she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Standing at the kitchen sink she allowed her mind to wander. Jane's arms wrapped around her, his soft lips pressed against her own, fingers searching for skin. His lips forming the three little words she longed him to say. Briefly she cursed herself for her teenage thoughts before strongly telling herself that it if it was anyone but Jane she wouldn't have felt this way. _I'm in love with my consultant. _She laughed at the irony of it all. Was he considered a team member? Would one of them have to be moved to another unit? Three quick wraps sounded on the door, Lisbon counted to five before walking to the door to open it.

"Hi" her voice was breathy and the smile on her face was angelic.

"You look beautiful" Jane announced before leaning forward to kiss her on the cheek.

A blush skimmed Lisbon's cheeks and she wondered if he'd ever be able to not make her blush like a school girl.

"Hungry?" Jane headed to the kitchen.

"I could eat." That was a lie she was famished.

Placing the groceries on the counter and his over night bag on the table Jane strode over to her and kissed her passionately. Wrapping his arms around her Jane dipped her a little bit causing her to laugh. "Now that is a greeting I could get used to." Pulling back he looked into her green orbs before moving her back to standing position.

"I could get used to that too"

"I missed you" Jane confessed as he bag to empty the groceries bags.

"You saw me and hour ago."

Jane just shrugged.

"Well I missed you too."

"You did huh?" Jane teased.

"Of course. I was lonely. My other boyfriend couldn't come over." Lisbon laughed.

Grabbing a pan Jane placed it on the element "other boyfriend? You wound me my dear. I thought I was the only one."

Lisbon shrugged "meh."

Jane shot a cheeky grin over his shoulder and her. "Cheeky. Using my own sayings against me."

Lisbon pouted and blinked her big eyes "poor baby."

Jane turned back around and continued to cook dinner "Teresa do you have a grater?"

"Yeah" jumping off the counter she headed to the corner cupboard and searched the bottom shelf.

Jane immediately stopped chopping vegetables when he saw her bend down. His eyes zeroed in on her beautiful ass. "Oh god" he whispered.

"Where's is it damn it?" She rummaged around in the cupboard a bit more.

Jane was pretty sure that he was drooling. Being able to freely stare at her now made all the difference.

"You okay?"

Jane blinked and saw her standing in front of him grater in hand. All he could do was nod.

Lovingly she touched his cheek "Patrick, you're sure you're okay."

His eyes snapped to hers "fine." He smiled "more than fine."

"Okay" she didn't know if she believed him but she returned to her previous position sitting on the counter.

"You look gorgeous by the way."

"Thanks" she whispered.

"Ya know you didn't have to dress up for me my dear." Jane returned to chopping vegetables.

"Who says I did it for you?" she deadpanned. Jane simply looked at her with a look that said 'please I know it's for me.'

Lisbon rolled her eyes "okay it's for you." Hopping down from the counter she stood in front of him "You like it?" very slowly she did a little spin.

Jane's eyes locked onto her right shoulder which was showing "I like it a lot my dear. You look stunning."

The banter continued as Jane finished prepping the vegetables for the salad. Silently Lisbon slipped of the counter, grabbed Jane's overnight bag and took it upstairs. Smiling Jane continued to finish dinner.

She wasn't a teenager anymore and neither was he she, she had to act responsible and be a little cautious. He meant too much for her to be acting like a giddy school girl, she wanted him to be proud of her not embarrassed by her.

With a flourish that could only be described as quintessentially Jane he presented Lisbon with the dinner before sitting down opposite her.

"This looks delicious." Lisbon smiled at him.

"Thank you."

"Oh, would you like some wine?"

Jane nodded. A few moments later Lisbon returned with two glasses and a bottle of unopened Chardonnay.

Jane smiled as he saw Lisbon's left hand twitching and scrunching on the table. Reaching over he covered her hand with his own. A sigh of relief left her lips. Jane had always imagined that she would shy away from affection that he would have to practically beg her for a hug or kiss.

"I'd like to propose a toast." Jane raised his wine glass with his free left hand.  
"To new beginnings and new relationships."

Smiling Lisbon repeated his words and clinked her glass with his.

The rest of dinner passed with light conversation; Jane's hand never left Lisbon's. Silently they cleared the able and placed all of the dishes into the dishwasher. When the kitchen was cleaned Lisbon took Jane's hand and guided him to the sofa where they'd had their life changing conversation a few short hours ago. Sitting down Jane patted the space next to him. Lisbon sat down and laid her head on the back of the sofa. A soft groan left her lips.

"You okay?"

She cracked open one eye and looked at him. "My neck is just a little stiff."

"I can give you a massage if you like?"

Both her eyes opened "really?"

"Of course." Placing a cushion on the floor between his legs he motioned for her to sit down.

Lisbon settled on the cushion and leaned back a little. Jane placed his hands on her shoulders and glided his thumbs along her neck and into the grooves on each side of her spine. Lisbon tensed slightly as Jane's left thumb hit a particularly sore spot.

"Found it" he announced triumphantly. "Just breathe Teresa." He whispered into your ear.

Closing her eyes she took deep relaxing breaths and tried not to flinch when Jane's hands hit a particularly tender spot.

"Your neck is a mess, how could you stand it?"

"Painkillers" she managed to reply.

"You should have come to me, I could have helped you."

She shook her head slightly. "It would have been embarrassing."

Jane's hands stopped moving "why would you be embarrassed?"

"Having the guy that you have a crush on give you a massage is what is embarrassing."

Jane chuckled "it's a little more than a crush my dear."

"Says who?"

"Says you" Jane whispered in her ear as he continued to massage the kinks out of her neck.

"Mmm, you must have heard wrong."

Slowly he pushed his thumbs up and placed pressure on the base of her skull. "I never hear anything wrong."

Lisbon snorted "I distinctly remember telling you multiple times to not get into trouble and yet you continue to."

"Oh I heard you; I just decided not to listen."

Lisbon huffed "good to know that you take my concerns into consideration."

"I do" Jane's fingers moved back to her shoulders "I consider them and then I dismiss them."

Lisbon sighed and closed her eyes "idiot" she whispered under her breath.

"Good to see you haven't changed for me Teresa."

She hummed in agreement. "Patrick" she whispered.

"Teresa" he whispered playfully in return.

Lisbon bit her lower lip "I'm tired, do you want to come upstairs?"

Another chapter done. More to come. By the way this is rated M for future chapters. Hint, hint.


	3. This will be fun

And here is another chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. 

"Patrick? You okay?"

Jane blinked at her "yeah, I can do that."

Lisbon laughed "no need to be so worried Patrick; it's sleeping."

"I don't sleep Teresa."

"Never?"

"Well hardly ever."

Lisbon grabbed his hand to take him upstairs "well let's see if we can change that."

Jane gladly followed her upstairs. "So how do you plan on getting me to fall asleep?"

"Well" Lisbon answered after she had changed into a pair of blue boy shorts and her oversized 99 jersey "I was thinking of reading to you from the CBI handbook."

Jane laughed "I want to sleep not die of boredom."

"Actually" Jane smirked "what's the protocol on dating?"

Lisbon smiled "if you'd read the handbook you'd know. I gave it to you on your first day."

"And since then it has been a dust collector in my top drawer at work."

Lisbon rolled her eyes.

"Well?" Jane lay on the bed and waited for her to join him "what's the protocol?"

"For?"

"Damn it woman"

Lisbon laughed at Jane's mock frustration.

"For co-workers dating."

"Why do you want to know?" she moved to lie on the bed.

"Well I was thinking of asking out Mags the cleaning lady."

Lisbon laughed "she lovely Jane but she's old enough to be your mother."

Jane shrugged "it's Patrick."

"What?"

"My name" he whispered moving closer to her "you called me Jane."

"Oh sorry; it'll just take some time you get used to it."

"That's fine. So what's your problem with Mags? She's a lovely lady and she's got a really nice set of…"

Lisbon held up her hand to silence him "do not finish that sentence."

Jane smirked "I was going to say teeth."

Lisbon squinted her eyes at him "sure you were."

"I was I promise" Jane held his hand to his heart. "So" Jane turned to face Lisbon "what's the actual policy?"

"How much do you want to know Patrick Jane? What's it worth to you?"

Shuffling forward Jane placed one arm on the other side of Lisbon and leaned forward to kiss her beautiful lips. His hand reached up to caress her skin and he smiled into the kiss as a soft sigh escaped from her mouth. Pulling away he smiled down at her.

Teresa shrugged "eh I've had better."

"Well if that's the case I'll go." Jane moved away from Lisbon but was stopped when she wrapped her arms around him.

"No; you're not going anywhere."

"Oh really?" Jane queried looking down at her "and how are you going to make me stay?"

"Patrick I've tackled men 3 times my size."

"Touché" Patrick leaned over and kissed her once more.

"CBI regulation states that two agents cannot date without consent."

"Excellent" he smiled "I'm not an agent. Which means you're stuck with me."

"Oh look there's some fine print here" Lisbon pointed to the bottom of the page "it says pain in the ass consultants are not allowed to date anyone."

Jane leaned right over to look in the book before ripping it from her hands. "You my dear are horrible."

"Me?" She battered her eyes lashes at him "I am nothing of the sort My Jane and I don't appreciate the accusations."

"Look at you being all playful." Jane ran his fingers over her arm. "So it's safe to say that we can tell everyone about us?"

Lisbon softly shook her head "not yet Patrick. I want to see where this goes first." She looked up at him her eyes pleading for him to understand. "I just want to make sure we are strong before we announce it to everyone."

"Hmmm."

"It has nothing to do with being ashamed or anything like that."

Jane's eyes scanned her face looking for signs of deception; he found none.

Lisbon took a deep breath before continuing to talk "but if you want to tell the team I can deal with that."

Jane shook his head "no" he kissed her forehead "it's fine I understand. Besides a secret relationship could be kind of fun."

Lisbon couldn't help but roll her eyes "sometimes I wonder about your maturity levels."

"Meh; you're only as young as you feel Teresa."

"Well right now I feel very old." Turning off the bed side lamp Lisbon snuggled further into her blankets "good night Patrick."

Jane laid his arm over her waist "night Teresa." Closing his eyes Jane let the sounds of the woman next to him lull him to sleep.

Much to Lisbon's annoyance Sunday brought a case to the serious crimes unit. Calling her team and giving them the details she rushed out of bed and headed to bathroom. Jane had gone to get some breakfast and was going to head straight to the crime scene instead of back to Lisbon's.

'What have we got?" Lisbon asked Rigsby as she arrived on the scene.

"Connor Wilks 21 years old. Moved here from Seattle 2 months ago. Jogger found him this morning. Estimated time of death is between 5 and 7am. Looks like blunt force trauma."

Lisbon looked over at Rigsby "you talk to the jogger Jane and I will…"

"Good morning Lisbon, Rigsby."

"Jane" Rigsby smiled "how was your weekend?"

"Best I've had in a long time."

Lisbon lowered her head to hide the smile that fell on her lips.

"Do your thing Jane."

Smiling at her Jane bent down over the body to take a closer look "he has blue hair on his shoulder?"

Squatting down next to the body Lisbon grabbed tweezers from the nearby kit and placed the hair into a bag before tagging and sealing it.

"Shoes indicate he was on his way to somewhere extravagant or that he was trying to impress someone."

Looking down at his shoe Lisbon smiled noticing that they were polished and barely scuffed on the bottom "they look expensive."

"They are" Jane added "they're about $600."

Lisbon whistled "that's insane."

Jane hummed.

"Boss I think I found the murder weapon!"

Lisbon turned to see Rigsby hold a bloodied brick.

"Good work. Anything else?" Lisbon wondered turning back to Jane.

"Breakfast, come on." Jane grabbed her by the elbow and started to drag her away.

"Rigsby, Jane and I are heading back to the office you take the car and go and check out the vics home." Lisbon managed to yell as Jane took her away from the crime scene.

"No worries boss"

Back at Jane's car he opened the door for her. Smiling she silently slipped into the car. Once Jane was positioned in the driver's seat he gently grabbed Lisbon's hand and kissed it never taking his eyes off hers.

"Let's have breakfast by the river" he suggested.

"Okay but we have to be quick."

"Meh" Jane checked for traffic before pulling out of his parking spot "we'll just say that I got a flat tire."

Lisbon laughed but didn't disagree with his suggestion.

Breakfast was great. Ham and chess croissants, a coffee for Lisbon and tea (of course) for Jane. They both sat on the front of Jane's car down by the river on private property which belonged to "an old client" Jane confessed.

"This is nice" Lisbon sighed as she closed her eyes and lifted her head towards the sun.

"Apart from the whole murder thing."

Lisbon opened her eyes and looked over at her blonde haired companion "well that does kind of put a downer on the mood."

Jane slid closer and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Better?"

"Mmm-hmm" Lisbon rested her head on Jane's shoulder. "We really should head into work soon."

"Do we have to? Maybe we could text Cho and tell him that we've been suddenly abducted by aliens but we will be back in the office tomorrow."

Lisbon shook her head "where do you come up with these insane ideas?"

"I think maybe I was dropped on my head as a child." Jane confessed very seriously.

Lisbon placed a kiss on his cheek "that explains a lot."

"If you keep being mean to me I might just have to ask Mags out." Jane threatened as he jumped off the car and held his hand out for Lisbon.

"Empty threats, it's all empty threats."

Much to Jane's surprise and delight the ride back to CBI contained conversations about where they should go on their first date.

"Oh my god Jane we left the crime scene 2 hours ago!" Lisbon realised as they entered the lift.

"It's okay Teresa, flat tire remember."

The elevator doors opened on their floor and Lisbon put on her game face. The team didn't ask any questions about where Jane and Lisbon had been. They figured that they'd been chasing down a lead or something.

"Flat tire" Jane mumbled as he went and sat on this couch.

"Cho what do we have?"

"The vics family live in Clovis; his sister is in Sacramento for a conference; she's on her way into the office now."

"Nice work; Van Pelt got anything on Connor's phone records?

"I think so." Van Pelt looked up from her computer "our vic called the same number 54 times in the last week."

"Maybe he liked Pizza" Jane mused from his couch.

"No it's the number of a girl that he was enrolled in a cooking class with."

"Good work. Jane and I will go and talk to her. Text me the address."

Lisbon turned to leave followed closely by Jane.

The ride to Lucy Turnbull's house took 20 minutes giving Jane plenty of time to suggest ideas for their first date.

"How about bowling?"

Lisbon shook her head "we went bowling with the team last week."

He also suggested "pizza, rock climbing, ice skating."

"You don't seem to me to be the rock climbing type."

Jane shrugged "I'm not."

"How about dinner and dancing?" Lisbon didn't miss the way that Jane's eyes lit up.

"Sounds perfect."

"Great, I made the suggestion so you can do all the hard work for a change."

"Are you saying that I don't earn my keep dear Teresa."

She smiled "that's exactly what I am saying."

"Why am I with you again?" Jane joked.

"No idea." Lisbon smiled a little sadly.

_She has no idea. Well I'll change that. _He smiled mischievously.

"What are you grinning at? Should I be scared?"

"Always." Jane laughed.

Lucy Turnbull was very co-operative with Jane and Lisbon; she even answered Jane's more unorthodox questions. It turned out the Connor had a bit of a thing for her. They had traded numbers when they were given a class assignment together. Lucy mentioned that he seemed nice if not a little obsessive but wasn't her type. Jane got the feeling she had a thing for bad boys.

"She likes bad boys." Lisbon stated.

"Big time. We should head back and talk to the sister."

Lisbon silently agreed and they headed back to CBI.

Connor's sister was sitting in Lisbon's office with Van Pelt when they returned to CBI.

"Rebecca I'm Agent Lisbon this is Patrick Jane. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you" Rebecca looked at both Jane and Lisbon.

"Did Connor have any enemies anyone giving him grief?"

Rebecca shook her head but promptly stopped "my ah my ex-boyfriend Ryan started hassling him not longer after we broke up." She sat wringing her hands together.

"Why was that Rebecca?" Jane asked leaning against the now closed door.

"Ryan was pretty demanding of my time. Connor suffered because of it. He's my little brother." Tears fell from her eyes "He was my little brother and it was my job to look after him; Ryan didn't like that so we broke up."

"And Ryan threatened Connor?" Jane already knew the answer.

Rebecca nodded. "Said Connor was the reason we broke up. I just couldn't handle him controlling me anymore."

"Rebecca do you know where Ryan is now?" Lisbon prompted quietly.

Nodding once again she pulled out her phone and read out Ryan's address. "He lives with his Dad who's just gotten out of jail. Do you, do you think that maybe they had something to do with it? That they killed my brother.""

"That's what we need to find out. Thank you for your help Rebecca." Lisbon handed the weeping sister her card "let me know if you think of anything else."

"Rebecca before you go was Connor into performing at all?" Jane looked her straight in the eyes.

Rebecca looked confused "No, not that I know of."

"Agent van Pelt will show you out." Once Van Pelt had shown Rebecca out Lisbon turned to Cho and Rigsby "you two check out Ryan and his father."

"I'll come." Jane jumped up, winked at Lisbon and left with Rigsby and Cho.

While Jane, Cho and Rigsby were talking to Ryan and his father Van Pelt went through his computer and Lisbon contact SAC PD to see if they had any further information on Ryan's father. They had a file on him and said they would send it over to her.

About 30 minutes later Van Pelt entered Lisbon's office holding the Connor's laptop "think I've got something boss." Van Pelt sat the laptop on Lisbon's desk and spun it around. So our vic looked up this address in Midtown it coincides with credit card transactions."

"Okay so what is this place?"

Van Pelt smiled "a club called Go-go. By the looks of his credit card he goes there a lot."

"Great work. We'll head there now." Picking up her jacket Lisbon hit speed dial 2 on her phone and waited for Cho to answer "Van Pelt and I have a lead; we're heading to Go-go in Midtown. Connor went there a lot." Lisbon smiled as she heard Jane's voice in the background.

"Jane says look out for someone with Blue hair." Cho recited.

"Will do." Lisbon closed her phone and placed it back in her pocket "let's go."

At go-go Van Pelt and Lisbon found the club manager to be very evasive, only when Lisbon threatened him with obstruction of justice did he decide to answer their questions.

"One final question Mr Monroe do you have any girl's hair that wear blue wigs or have blue hair?"

Mr Monroe looked at Lisbon as though she'd asked the strangest question known to man "we do yeah, one of our singers called Layla" pulling out a headshot of the girl he passed it to Lisbon "she starts work at 8 tonight."

"Thank you Mr Monroe" Lisbon handed over her card "call me if you think of anything."

"He's hiding something" Van Pelt whispered as they left the club.

"You're right; I just don't know what. If only Jane was here." Lisbon sighed.

"You okay boss?" Van Pelt frowned at her.

"Yeah fine."

Cho, Jane and Rigsby's luck wasn't much better on the other side of town. Jane had managed to piss of Ryan's dad who in turn started yelling abuse at him.

"Ryan were you aware that your Dad had a thing for Rebecca?" Jane asked. That was it Ryan's dad launched himself at the consultant who managed to slip past him and hide behind a very unimpressed Cho.

"Well that was successful" Jane stated as they walked back to the car.

"What was the point of that Jane?" Rigsby asked as he walked to the passenger's seat.

"Well Rigsby I was trying to see if either of them had motive to kill Connor."

"Anything?"

"Meh." Jane smirked at his tall friend.

The next day Lisbon sat in her office "9.45pm?" Lisbon shook her head. She couldn't believe that the day had gone so fast. They'd managed to check Ryan and Lucy's alibis and they were both fine.

"Damn it" Lisbon slammed her pen on the desk.

"I made you coffee." Jane walked in and handed her a cup.

"Thanks." They sat down opposite each other and sipped their drinks quietly.

"You okay?" Jane reached forward and squeezed her hand.

"Yeah just tired and frustrated with this case. No one seems to want to give us any information"

Lisbon's phone rang and the two were pulled out of there little bubble. "Lisbon. Great Cho good work."

"Looks like the blue haired girl Layla is Lucy's roommate. Layla's real name is Penelope Grey. She said that Connor came into the club all the time asking her about Rebecca."

"Sounds like he was obsessed."

Lisbon nodded in agreement.

"Does Layla have a boyfriend?"

"Not sure" Lisbon dialled Cho's number. Holding the line she got her answer. "Layla's boyfriend is Sebastian Munroe the club manager."

"Bring him in." Jane suggested.

Turns out they didn't need to interrogate Munroe; as soon as Cho mentioned the words death and penalty he went into a long rant about how Connor was hitting on his girl at the club and that he didn't take the hints to back off. Munroe didn't seem too happy when Cho mentioned that Connor was sweet on Layla's roommate.

"It seems that Layla was getting paid by Connor to give him information about what Lucy was doing." Jane explained at close case pizza.

"She wanted to leave Munroe but didn't have the money so she was subsidising her income with money from Connor." Rigsby added before digging into the pizza.

Both Cho and Van Pelt noticed that Jane and Lisbon sat particularly close to each other but either of them said anything about it they just gave each other a knowing look.

Jane's story about how he once tried to hypnotise himself was interrupted when he received a text message. As he opened the message the jovial look on his face fell.

"Patrick what is it?" Lisbon placed her hand on his shoulder.

The use of Jane's first name didn't go unnoticed.

Without saying a word Jane handed over the phone. Lisbon looked down to see a picture of her and Jane sitting on his car by the river. Jane's arm was around her and she had her head on his shoulder. Underneath the picture were the words.

**She's next Patrick. This will be fun. Catch me if you can. R.J**


	4. Scared

Here's the next chapter. A huge thank you to everyone who had reviewed, read and favourited this story. It means more than I can ever express. I don't own The Mentalist.

Lisbon looked over at Jane the look on his face was one she hadn't seen before; he looked scared no terrified, angry and defeated. Slowly he stood and left the table heading for the attic.

Jane needed to be alone; needed to cry for Lisbon in private. He had always been scared that one of the team would be taken and he wasn't afraid to admit that he was more scared for Lisbon then the others but now she was officially the target. Red John had said so himself and Red John always got his man or woman. It was only a matter of time before Lisbon too would be gone and someone else that he loved will have been sacrificed to Red John. Jane's legs moved of their own accord as he paced the familiar boards of the attic floor. He knew that Lisbon would follow, he just hoped she would give him some time.

She didn't. Less than a minute after he arrived in his pseudo-room he heard the distinctive sound of heeled boots walking towards him, he knew it was her.

"Patrick." Her voice was so quiet and filed with concern.

He closed his eyes and let her voice wash over him.

Taking a step into the room she repeated his name once more. "Van Pelt is tracing the origin of the call right now."

"She won't find anything." He cleared his throat trying to get rid of the hoarseness that resided there.

"We might get lucky."

Jane spun to face her "Teresa you know as well as I do that he won't make a mistake not now, not when it comes to you."

"Patrick I…" she didn't know what to say, what to do to make him feel better to reassure him that everything would be okay, that she wouldn't leave him like Angela and Charlotte reluctantly did. Without a second thought she surged forward and wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him towards the cot that he'd spent many restless nights on.

Jane felt the bed sag under his weight. The warm body next to him provided his only link to reality.

"Teresa?" he whispered.

"I'm here Patrick."

Very slowly he curled his body towards her, his fingers clutched to her shirt and his breath became ragged.

Lisbon gripped onto him tighter and rocked their bodies back and forth "Shhhh, It's okay sweetheart."

The second that term of endearment left Lisbon's lips Jane felt tears begin to fall. "I-I can't lose you."

"I know" Teresa ran her fingers through his hair "I know." What else could she say? She didn't want to promise that Red John wouldn't get to her; there was a very high chance that he would. She couldn't lie to him and say that everything would be okay because she didn't know if it would be.

Jane tried his best to slow down his breath, to use the biofeedback techniques that he had mastered over the years but the more he tried the more upset he became.

Lisbon continued to rock him as he placed kisses on his head. Visions flashed through her head. Red John capturing her, Red John killing her, Cho shooting Red John, her beating the crap out of Red John. Yeah that was her favourite image by far.

"We're not going down without a fight Patrick." She whispered the promise into the skin on the back of his neck.

"He'll get to you Teresa, he always get what he wants."

Lisbon placed her hands on his face and gently pulled it so their faces were inches from each other "then we'll just have to want him more." A small smile formed on her lips. "We'll be ready for him, for whatever he throws at us. We'll end this once and for all. He'll go to jail or hell and we'll move one." Her thumbs gently wiped the tears from his eyes "can't believe it took little ole me to get the great Patrick Jane to cry" she joked.

Chuckling slightly he pulled Lisbon to him "we have to beat him Teresa, we have to beat him at his own game. There's no way in hell I am losing you or Cho or Gracie or Rigsby."

Pulling back Lisbon saw a look of determination in Jane's eyes.

Lisbon smiled before sweetly kissing his lips "give yourself a few minutes to calm down and then join us down stairs. We have a serial killer to catch." She stood and slowly made her way to the stairs.

"Teresa."

She turned back to face him.

"Thank you."

Smiling she headed back downstairs to her team.

"Boss is Jane okay?" Van Pelt looked nervously at Lisbon.

"He'll be fine."

"What about you?" Cho narrowed his eyes.

"I'm" she paused to find the right words. "I'm worried for Jane."

"And for you." Rigsby added.

"Nah" Lisbon shook her head "I have a great team who'll keep me safe."

"Cho should take lead." Jane announced as he strode back into the bull pen.

Lisbon looked from Cho to Jane "he's right. Cho you're up."

"Cho just so you know I am not leaving Teresa's side at all" Jane walked over and wrapped his arm around her waist. Lisbon blushed as she looked from one team member to another.

"Are you two?" Rigsby waved his finger from Lisbon to Jane and back again.

Jane beamed at him and Lisbon nodded shyly.

Van Pelt squealed and ran at her boss and their consultant and wrapped her arms around them. A few seconds later she came to her senses.

"Sorry" she muttered.

"It's fine Grace" Jane smiled.

Lisbon was surprised that even Cho managed a small smile.

"I take it you guys are all okay with Patrick and I being together?"

Hey all nodded their heads.

"We're happy for you boss" Cho spoke for the whole team "hurt her and I'll kill you Jane."

"Duly noted." Jane rocked on his heels.

"Same goes for you boss. I will hurt you if you hurt Jane."

Everyone looked at Grace with a surprised look on their faces.

"What? Jane's family too."

Lisbon smiled at Van Pelt "I don't intend on doing anything of the sort but it's good to see that someone has Jane's back."

"So how long has this being going on" Rigsby folded his arms.

"Wayne" Van Pelt chided.

"It's fine" Lisbon reassured her "since Friday."

"To be fair it's been a couple of years in the making." Jane smiled at Lisbon and kissed the top of her head.

"So what's the plan Cho?" Lisbon moved to sit down at the table near her office. Slowly the rest of the team followed her.

"Well" Cho grabbed a chair and pulled it to the table "I think we need to keep this between us. We don't know who we can trust."

They all nodded in agreement.

"I agree but that didn't exactly work out last time. Sarah and I broke up; we all got transferred to other teams."

"I didn't" Jane noted the smile on his face quickly dissipated when he felt an elbow dig into him.

"Boss got suspended" Rigsby continued "and the FBI snooped around."

"Rigsby" Lisbon turned to the tallest member of her team "I completely understand if you don't want to be a part of this, you have Ben to think about." Her eyes scanned the rest of the group "I understand if any of you don't want to be involved."

"I'm in" Cho answered straight away.

"Me too" Van Pelt smiled.

"Ben is with Sarah at the moment so count me in. It's not that I didn't want to help Boss, I just don't want Ben to not have a Dad."

"I get it Rigs. It's fine. Thanks guys."

"We'd do anything for you boss." Van Pelt admitted.

"Boss" Cho grabbed everyone's attention "I also think that you should take some time off."

Lisbon shook her head "no, I need to be here with my team."

"Teresa" Jane called quietly "we can't protect you as well if you are out in the field."

"What if I stay here?"

Jane shook his head "what happened to Bosco and his team is proof that CBI isn't safe."

Lisbon huffed in frustration "so what am I supposed to do hang out at my house and wait for Red John to come for me?" Lisbon heard the quiet intake of breath from Jane who was sitting next to her. Sighing she closed her eyes "I'm sorry. It's just so frustrating. I don't want to be sitting at home doing nothing; I want to help catch the bastard."

"And we want to keep you safe" Rigsby growled.

"Please Teresa"

Lisbon looked into Jane's eyes and saw anguish.

"I can't, I can't lose you too. Just let Cho run this his way."

Lisbon frowned at him.

"Please."

Biting her lip she continued to look into his eyes. "Okay, I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Cho you're in charge. I'll send an email requesting leave. I'm owed some time anyway."

"Alright. I'll get us some burn phones." Grace shrugged "we don't know if our CBI ones are bugged."

"Great. So we're on late shift tomorrow how about we all meet at the Boss' place at 9am?"

They all looked at Lisbon for confirmation. "Only if someone brings Bagels and a bear claw."

"Deal" Van Pelt smiled.

Placing her keys on the coffee table Lisbon shuffled into the kitchen to make tea for herself and Jane. "Well that day sucked" she mumbled to herself.

"Can't argue with that my dear" Jane agreed as we walked up behind her.

"Tea?"

"Mmm please" he whispered wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I can't make tea with you clinging to me" she chuckled.

"You could, you just refused to accept the challenge."

"Jane I'm tiny there's no way that I can drag you."

"And yet you told me what you've tackled guys 3 times your size."

"I have but I don't generally drag them around my kitchen to make tea."

"Fair call" Jane decided reluctantly letting her go.

"So when do you think Red John will strike?" Lisbon wondered as she sipped her tea on the couch.

Jane looked up from his tea cup "most probably when he thinks that we aren't expecting it. He'll wait for as long as it takes for us to let our guards down."

Lisbon sighed and brought her knees up closer to her body. Sensing that she was upset Jane moved closer. She turned her head away from him not wanting him to see the fear and frustration in her eyes.

"Teresa"

She sniffed but continued to look away.

"Please look at me."

"I'm tired can we just go to sleep."

"Please" he touched her arm.

The warm, safe feeling caused her to turn back to him. He swore that his heart sank as he saw the fear in her eyes, the tears falling.

"I'm scared Patrick."

Jane pushed down his own feelings about Red John.

"I'm sorry" she wiped the tears away "I shouldn't be talking to you about this."

"Hey" he whispered taking her in his arms "you can talk to me; you're allowed to be scared, honestly I'm terrified. But that's what he wants right?"

She nodded.

"What are you scared of? Talk me through it."

Lisbon took a deep calming breath "that he'll hurt me. That he'll win, that the team will suffer but mostly what he'll do to you." Shifting herself she sat in his lap "you were so broken after Angela and Charlotte were taken from you Patrick. When you came to CBI you were just going through the motions. Slowly you got better you smiled and joked around."

Jane smiled.

"And then after your fugue, after you can back from it was like it happened all over again. I don't, I don't want to be the reason that you feel like that again. I'm not saying that I'm in the same sphere as Angela and Charlotte but I know if something happens to me you'll-you'll"

"I'll be lost all over again." He kissed her head and let his lips rest there "that's why we can't let him win this time. He won't we won't let him. We have an advantage here."

Lisbon looked up and silently asked him what it was.

Lovingly he brushed hair out of her eyes "Red John thinks that I will want to face him alone, that my pride will get in the way."

"He's wrong?"

Jane nodded "I've learnt that we need to take him down as a team." Slowly his hand ran through her hair "that's how we win."

Slowly she began to feel a calm wash over her she was struggling to keep her eyes open "stay with me?" She mumbled.

"Always."

Lisbon groaned as the sun hit her face. Throwing her arm out she expected to hit the back of the couch but instead hit a body and heard a groan. Opening her eyes she turned her head toward the noise. "Sorry" she croaked after realising she'd hit Jane.

"S'okay. You can really pack a punch."

Slowly she rolled over and kissed him on the cheek "better?"

"A little."

Leaning up on her elbow she pressed her lips to his. Slowly she moved her hand to tangle in his hair. Their lips moved in tandem; the sigh that left Jane made her smile. Warm hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her impossibly closer. Moving her lower body she now lay on top of him. Nibbling on his lower lip her body tingled as Jane hummed and gripped her tighter. Needing air she reluctantly pulled away.

Jane's eyes were wide and dilated "if that's the apology I get you can hit me anytime."

Laughing Lisbon placed her head on his chest.

"How you feeling?" Jane's voice was quiet and soothing as he ran his fingers up and down her arm.

"Better" she confessed "still scared but better."

Kissing the top of her head he glanced over at the alarm clock _7.45am. _The team would arrive soon. "We should get up the guys will be here soon."

Lisbon didn't want to get up, didn't want to move from the little bubble that they had created. "I'm going to have a shower." Carefully she rolled off Jane and headed for the bathroom.

"Want company?"

"You wish" she shot over her shoulder before leaving the room.

Smiling Jane stood up and walked downstairs to prepare breakfast and much needed coffee for a certain petite, brunette beauty.

The shower seemed to be just the thing that Lisbon needed to put herself back into the frame of mind of CBI agent. Okay not just the shower, Jane being with her helped; not that she'd ever admit it. His ego was already too big. The smell of coffee hit her as she walked down the stairs. Humming in delight she closed her eyes and allowed the smell of evade her nostrils.

"Coffee?" Jane smiled as he held out a huge cup to her.

"Mmm-hmm" she smiled taking the coffee gratefully.

"Kiss?" Jane puckered his lips.

Rolling her eyes Lisbon played is silly little game and gently kissed him.

"You enjoy your coffee I'm going to have a quick shower."

Nodding Lisbon sat the table and stared in space _man I am not a morning person._

Jane still couldn't believe that after years of denial Lisbon was finally his. He was finally Lisbon's. He still missed his family terribly he knew he always would but the pain hurt a little less with Teresa. As the hot spray hit his back he looked own at his wedding ring. A promise to love Angela till death do they part. He scoffed at the irony. He'd honoured his promises to Angela well after her death. _Perhaps too long after. _He'd been considering taking the ring of for a while now. Since they came back with Lorelai. Since Lorelai and said he was a little bit in love with Lisbon, since he realised she was right. He'd never wanted to make a grand gesture of removing it. He intended to just twist if off his finger, place it in a safe place and keep living. His rational mind knew that Angela would want him to move on and be happy. The firecracker downstairs currently sipping coffee made him happy, deliriously so. _It's almost embarrassing. _Without knowing it Lisbon had taught him that removing the ring wasn't a sign of failure; failure would be not living, not loving and he was starting to believe her.

Dressed in the clothes he had surreptitiously hidden in a bag under Lisbon's bed he stood and stared at himself in the mirror. He shook his head realising how old he looked. _What am I supposed to look like anyway? _Slowly he removed the gold ring from his finger. Flexing his fingers a few times he looked down at the indent that it had left. It felt strange to not have the weight there, not wrong just strange.

Sighing he placed it in the pock of his waistcoat and headed downstairs.

"I made you tea" Lisbon announced quietly.

Jane walked to her and whispered his thanks against her lips before kissing her. The tea was made just the way he liked it. Clearly all the times he complained to Lisbon about the travesty of incorrectly made tea had sunk in.

Lisbon smiled as she saw him wrap two hands around his tea, making a mental note to buy him a proper tea cup and saucer she froze as her eyes fell on his now bare left hand. Taking a deep breath she tried to figure remember if he was wearing it this morning.

"Teresa?"

Her eyes locked on his.

"I'm going to do the dishes."

She nodded not trusting her voice.

Walking to the kitchen Jane began to clean up yesterday's dishes. Lisbon sat at the table and closed her eyes. She swore she'd felt the cool metal of his wedding ring on her skin this morning. Frowning she thought back. Yes, yes she definitely had. Quietly she stood and made her way to the kitchen. She was amazed to see how at home he seemed to be. Stepping in behind him she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He jumped a little but relaxed almost immediately. Lovingly he grabbed her hand and placed it to his lips.

"Never took you for a tactile person Agent Lisbon" the playfulness in his voice was evident.

"I guess I just never had the right person." She squeezed him tighter.

"Are you getting all mushy on me?" Jane could feel Lisbon's smile.

"Maybe. Tell anyone and I'll kick your ass."

"Annnnd there's my Lisbon."

She pulled away as he turned around "your Lisbon?"

Jane smiled cheekily at her "you've always been my Lisbon. It just took me a while to admit it. And now you're also my Teresa." His eyes were warm.

"Hate to break it to you CBI consultant Patrick Jane but Lisbon and Teresa are the same person."

Jane laughed and shook his head "no, Lisbon is the hard as nails, spitfire, take no prisoners CBI agent and Teresa" he brushed an imaginary hair from her face "Teresa is the beautiful, slightly shy, angry little princess standing in front of me."

Turning her head Lisbon kissed the palm of Jane's hand. "When did you take your ring off" She asked looking into his eyes.

"This morning."

Lisbon frowned.

"It was time."

"I don't want to replace them Patrick, you can talk to me about them whenever you like."

"I will one day but right now is about you."

Rolling her eyes she stepped away and opened the curtains, breathing new life into her apartment.

Phew this was epic (for me anyways.) What did you think? Hit me up and let me know. Thanks for reading. Sorry for any mistakes was trying to get this up before home time. Yes I typed it at work. Hehe.


	5. There's a plan afoot

Here's another chapter. Thanks for all the reads and reviews. I really appreciate every one of them.

The knock on the door was a lot quieter than Lisbon had expected. It wasn't a 'CBI open up' knock more of a 'if you have a moment could you please come to the door' knock. Lisbon figured it was Van Pelt who'd knocked. Sure enough as she opened the door she found the red haired agent standing in front of the boys a huge smile on her face and a brown paper bag in hand which Lisbon hoped was bagels, bear claws and other naughty food.

"Come in guys." Lisbon smiled at her team and stepped back from the door.

"I bought breakfast." Van Pelt smiled.

"Thanks Grace; kitchens through there" Lisbon pointed to her right.

"Morning all" Jane smiled.

"You're already here?" Rigsby placed the back pack he was holding on the kitchen table.

Jane rolled his eyes "Of course Rigsby where else would I be?

"On a couch somewhere?" Cho answered stoically.

"Let's have breakfast first and then discuss the plan" Lisbon suggested.

Breakfast was nice the team all had bagels (except Lisbon who had a bear claw.) They also had coffee except for Jane who of course had tea.

Lisbon tried to rush the breakfast but Jane and the rest of the team kept chatting and telling her to relax. _It's hard to relax when Red John wants you dead. _She thought, she'd never say it out loud though.

Finally the last bagel was consumed (by Rigsby,) the last coffee was drunk and it was time to create a plan.

Lisbon ushered everyone into the lounge.

"So here are your burn phones." Van Pelt handed a phone to each person "Jane is under Jay-Jay."

He smiled.

"Boss is under Tessa, Wayne is William, Cho is Kenny."

"I don't look like a Kenny."

Van Pelt ignored him "and I am Gina."

"Try and keep these phones with you as much as possible." Cho leaned forward placing his hands on his knees.

'So what's the plan Cho?" Jane took grabbed Lisbon's hand.

"We place cameras at Boss' front door, in the living room, hall way and overlooking the parking lot."

"What happens after that?" The nervousness in Van Pelt's voice was obvious.

"We wait" Cho added solemnly. "Hope he shows up."

"Or we bait him" Lisbon suggested looking at Jane.

"No." He answered sternly.

"Patrick" Lisbon pleaded. "It's the only way."

Jane stood up and began to pace "no, no way. There has to be another way."

"Not that I can think of."

"There's no way that I am going to let you be used as bait so that we can catch him."

"That's what he's planning on" Lisbon rose from her seat "he knows how you feel about me; he knows that you'd never agree to this. If you do it will give us an advantage."

"Teresa" his voice was quiet "I don't like this."

"How do you think I feel?" she smiled sadly.

"I don't want to lose you" Jane noticed that he'd raised his voice "I don't want to be responsible for someone else I love dying Teresa, I couldn't handle it."

"Hey" Lisbon walked over to him and lovely placed her hand on his cheek "we do this together as a team remember."

He nodded.

"So you want to do this?"

"No" he mumbled.

Lisbon and Jane sat together on the couch while Cho, Van Pelt and Rigsby placed the cameras. Jane didn't like this idea, it sucked and was quite possibly the worst idea he had ever heard. _What kind of plan is that anyway? _He shot a death glare at Cho who was hiding the camera in the lounge.

Lisbon chuckled a little when she saw the way that Jane was looking at Cho. Honestly she didn't like the idea either, it certainly wasn't the best one she'd ever had but she was sick of Red John and she didn't want to waste any more time more for Jane's sake then her own.

"Cameras are all up." Cho walked to the kitchen and made himself another coffee.

"What's next?" Van Pelt sat opposite Lisbon and Jane.

"We have to figure out how to bait him." Rigsby added.

"So what do we have Jane do go on television and say hey Red John come and kill my girlfriend?" It was clear that Van Pelt was upset.

"Grace." Rigsby's voice was soft.

"No Wayne" Van Pelt wiped away the few tears that were forming in her eyes "I hate this. I hate Red John. I hate what he did to Jane. I hate what he's still doing to Jane." Van Pelt clenched he fingers into fists. "I hate what he's doing to our boss, to us. I hate him, more than I have ever hated anyone. I'm over this, I want it finished all ready" Van Pelt looked at the rest of the team to find them all looking worriedly at her "sorry" she mumbled.

"Grace it's fine" Jane smiled "thank you for what you said. It's good to see that you want to catch him as much as I do."

Van Pelt nodded still feel embarrassed by her outburst.

"We all do Jane." Rigsby confessed "this asshole has ruined too many people's lives."

"Well said Rigsby" Cho added.

Jane took a moment to look at his team, his friends, his family. The only family he had. "Alright so now that we've decided we all want to catch him let's go over some ground rules."

"Patrick Jane was ground rules" Lisbon gasped. "Can I get that in writing?"

"Get what in writing?" Jane smiled.

Lisbon rolled her eyes "you're way to good at playing dumb."

"Who's dumb?"

Lisbon hit his arm playfully "stop it."

"Stop what?"

Rolling her eyes Lisbon placed her hand over Jane's mouth "you're being annoying" she explained slowly "you need to stop now. If I remove my hand will you behave yourself?"

Jane nodded.

"You promise? Aaah" Lisbon quickly moved her hand. "Did you just lick me?"

"Sorry it's a defence mechanism" he shrugged.

"You're going to need a defence mechanism" Lisbon mumbled.

"What was that?" Jane smirked.

"Let's go over the rules."

Lisbon smiled and Rigsby glad for the distraction.

"No going off on your own side missions." Cho looked directly at Jane.

"What?"

"Patrick it's like your thing to take off without tell anyone." Lisbon cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Okay" he rolled his eyes "I will text you if I decide to go somewhere."

Cho shook his head "we'll all take someone with us and let the others know where we're going."

"But that's just…"

Jane was interrupted by Cho "this is my operation and I am not risking anyone."

"Yes sir" Jane saluted him.

"How are we going to tempt Red John?"

"Well" Rigsby looked up thinking for a moment "we could get Jane on T.V"

"Which I won't do and Red John won't fall for." Jane countered.

"What if she goes on TV and does and interview baiting him?" Cho suggested implying Lisbon.

"Or the two of you could kind of flaunt your relationship, go out to dinner that sort of thing" Van Pelt suggested. "That's if he's watching."

"He is; if he's not then one of his followers are." Jane smiled sadly at Van Pelt. "I think we should go with the last option. Not only do I get to wine and dine Teresa but it's the most realistic option."

"And if it doesn't work?" Van Pelt hated to ask.

"Then I go on television and call him a second rate criminal with a napoleon complex or an asshole" Lisbon shrugged.

The team all smiled glad to see that Lisbon was doing okay despite the very obvious cross hair that Red John had on her.

With the plan in place (kind of) Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt all headed to the office with the promise to call Jane if they needed him on a case. Jane hoped they didn't and so did Cho.

Sorry this one is so short. Next one should be up in a week or so.


	6. Check out

Okay so I am looking for a beta for either this story or my other non The Mentalist stories. Let me know if you are keen.

Realising that the team had left Lisbon dropped her tough cop façade. Yes she was known as a tough cop but this whole Red John thing had her scared and annoyed and pissed off. She knew that Jane was trying his best to stay calm around. _He's hiding things from me again. _She realised. _Always trying to protect me no matter what._

"So do you think this plan will work?"

"It's not really much of a plan is it?"

Lisbon bit her lip "No, not our finest work. We have to think about how we are going to work this."

Jane cocked his head "well we..."

"Patrick Jane stumped? Wonders never cease." Lisbon teased.

"No my dear, I just need some time to think is all."

"So what do we do? Rub this" she pointed to them both "in Red John's face and hope he gets pissy about it? Play up the relationship?"

"We won't be playing Teresa." He whispered stepping closer to her.

"You know what I mean."

"Meh" Jane shrugged.

"What does that even mean?"

"It means" he stepped even closer "whatever you want it to mean."

"That's very philosophical of you."

"I have my moments."

"It's true" Lisbon ran her fingers gently along his arms "you've had a few good moments."

"Only a few?"

"Three or four."

Jane frowned "I really am losing my touch."

"It happens to the best of us" Lisbon confessed.

"Not to me."

"I still love you if it makes you feel any better."

A huge grin fell on Jane's face "it does. It really does."

"You're so sappy" Lisbon chuckled as she shook her head.

"You love it."

"And how would you know?"

"I'm a mentalist" Jane stated.

"Mental more like."

Jane huffed and headed to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Silently with tea in hand he headed to the couch and sat down.

Lisbon could tell he was thinking and planning. Shaking her head she headed to her bedroom to make her bed.

Jane continued to muse. He was a smart man, smarter than most and there had to be another way to catch Red John that didn't put Teresa in danger. Closing his eyes he walked through his memory palace to the room that held all the information he had on Red John. There had to be something there that he'd over looked, something that…

"Patrick?"

Slowly he opened his eyes to see Lisbon standing and the end of the couch.

"Teresa" he smiled.

"You okay?"

"Yeah" he nodded. "Just thinking." Scooting closer to the back of the couch he patted the space next to him.

Carefully Lisbon sat next to him. "What were you thinking about?"

"Red John."

"Ah" Lisbon smiled sadly. "I can't wait until we don't have to worry about him anymore."

Jane hummed not really hearing what she said.

"Jane!"

"Hmmm?"

Lisbon ran her fingers through his hair "stop thinking so much" she whispered.

"Sorry" Jane smiled up at her. "We should go out to dinner."

"Should we now?"

Jane didn't reply.

"Okay" Lisbon began to pull him off the couch "you need to stop thinking so much and get up and do something.

"Like…"

"We could go for a drive?"

"And where exactly would we go dear Lisbon."

"Maybe we could go to your motel and pick up your things?"

Jane sat up "we haven't even had sex yet and you want me to move in?"

The look that Lisbon gave him told him to tread lightly.

"I mean if you don't want to that's fine, I'll just find another guy to move in with me."

Jane surged forward and wrapped his arms around her. "No you won't."

"So you'll move in?" She asked very innocently.

Jane nodded.

"Great let's go. I'll even let you drive." Lisbon threw Jane his keys and waited for him to follow her to the front door before opening it.

The drive to the motel was shorter then Lisbon thought it would be. "Wow this place is depressing" she mumbled under her breath.

Jane just smiled. She was right this place was rather depressing. Heading upstairs Jane led her to the second to last unit. "Here we are" he announced as he opened the door.

Stepping inside Lisbon noticed that the room had a bed, a bed side cabinet a small kitchen, a small dining room table, two chairs and a door which she assumed went to the bathroom. "No couch" she mused.

"Now do you see why I spend so much time at work?"

Lisbon nodded. "Let's get your stuff and get out of here." Scanning the room once more Lisbon smiled as she saw a picture of Angela and Charlotte on the bed side cabinet. Doing a double take she also saw a picture of her and Jane that Van Pelt had taken at Lisbon's impromptu birthday dinner last year. Jane was clearing telling Lisbon a joke, her head was thrown back in laughter and the look on Jane's face showed pure adoration. "That's a lovely photo."

"It is." Jane whispered standing right behind her. "Take a seat while I grab everything."

Lisbon sat quietly on the edge of the bed and watched as Jane walked back and forth collecting his belongings.

"I have to admit I am glad to be leaving this place" Jane confessed as they headed to the car to drop off his belongings. Silently Jane closed the trunk of the car and headed to the reception area.

"Hi Patrick."

Lisbon looked up to see a buxom blonde leaning on the reception desk giving Jane (and any other unfortunate soul who happened to walk passed a view of her breasts.

"Hi Jenny" Patrick smiled at her.

"Whatchya doin' handsome? Wanting to pay for another month?" She winked at him.

_She winked at him actually winked._

"No" Jane sighed placing his hands into his pockets "sadly I am leaving this fine establishment."

Lisbon couldn't help but titter quietly.

Jenny pouted "you can't leave me Patrick. I'll be all alone."

Leaning further forward Jane looked her straight in the eyes "You're a big girl Jenny you can handle it."

"What if I don't want to?" she said in a voice that was (in Lisbon's opinion) a poor attempt at sultry.

Jenny blinked her big dumb eyes at Patrick and Lisbon had had enough.

"Patrick, babe. We should get going."

Jane turned to Lisbon; his eyes wide with shock. _Babe? She's never called me that. _

"Ah sure. Goodbye Jenny." Jane laced his fingers with Lisbon's.

"B-bye" the bimbo stuttered as they left.

"That really wasn't necessary" Jane chuckled.

"I beg to differ" she offered very seriously.

"There's no need to be jealous."

"She's rather pretty don't you think?"

"Meh" Jane shrugged "not really my type"

Silently they both entered the car.

"Ready to go?" Jane looked over at a sulking Lisbon who simply nodded her head.

"Teresa?" Jane's voice was soft. "Teresa look at me."

Reluctantly she did as he asked.

"Talk to me."

"I don't like that she looked at you like that. Like you were a piece of meat. She looked like she wanted to devour you."

Jane couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess that must be what it's like to be a woman."

"I'm serious Patrick."

"Me too." Patrick started the car. "I know how you feel Teresa. When you went out with Mashburn I was not happy."

"Really?"

"Of course. I wanted you all for myself and then he got his grubby little hands on you. He got to woo you and kiss you and..."

"Clearly that worked out well." Teresa scoffed.

Jane hummed in agreement "I assure you that nothing happened between me and Jenny."

"I know but I still don't like her. Stupid bimbo" Lisbon mumbled.

Jane laughed and the jealousy spell was broken. Lisbon pretended not to notice that Jane was taking the very long way home.

Once they reached Lisbon's apartment all thoughts of their conversation evaporated.

"You don't have much stuff" Lisbon noted as she threw one of Jane's bags over her shoulder. "We will have to do something about that."

"Are you offering to buy me thing Teresa Lisbon."

"On my salary? No I'm offering for you to buy you things and I'll come with you."

"But I am only a lowly consultant." Jane pouted.

"With a house in Malibu and a love of vintage cars."

"I love vintage cars, I don't have vintage cars." Jane stated following Teresa through the front door. "Well I have one vintage car."

"Or death trap."

"She might hear you." Jane scowled.

Shaking her head Lisbon lugged some of Jane's belongings up to her room _our room _she corrected.

"Home sweet home." Jane smiled.

Swiftly the two worked in tandem. Lisbon made room for his belongings in the closet while Jane unfolded his clothes and placed the picture of him and Lisbon on the bedside table on the right hand side of the bed.

"D'you know you're the first guy I have lived with?" Lisbon continued to work.

"I am truly honoured."

As Jane turned to put his clothes away Lisbon took the photo of Angela and Charlotte and placed it next to the photo that Jane had placed.

Satisfied that his clothes we all hung up Jane turned to survey the room. His eye caught the photos next to the bed. Leaving the room Jane went to find Lisbon. Unsurprisingly he found her in the kitchen making tea.

"Early grey for me please."

Nodding Lisbon reached up on tip toes and grabbed the canister of Earl Grey from the shelf. Carefully she poured two cups of tea, making sure to pour it just how Jane liked it. As they waited for the tea to brew 'always an important step Lisbon.' Jane walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome but it's only tea."

Jane chuckled "not for the tea. For letting my move in, for placing Angela and Charlottes photo next to ours."

"You don't have to thank me Patrick" she turned in his arms. "I don't except you to forget them, I don't want you to. They're such an important part of your life. They always will be."

"You're amazing do you know that? Saint Teresa." He whispered.

"Please don't call me that. Bosco used to call me that."

"Hmm well" he kissed her head "I will just have to think of my own nick name for you."

"Nothing too embarrassing please." Lisbon whispered into his chest.

"Would I do that hmm?"

Lisbon looked up at him "yeah you would. Tea's getting cold." Lisbon mentioned after a few more minutes.

"Only you could make me forget about something as important as tea."

"Only you would think something like tea is important" Lisbon quipped as she took her tea to the lounge and sat down.

"Tea is a very important commodity; there's a reason it was dumped in the river."

"That was a protest against tax not tea." Lisbon shot over her shoulder.

"Taxed tea my love."

Lisbon blushed at the pet name "Taxed everything."

"Yes" Jane sipped his tea "and tea is part of everything."

"A very small part."

"But a part none the less."

"Why are we arguing about tea?" Lisbon brought her legs up under herself.

"Not arguing" Jane shook his head "having an intellectual conversation."

"About tea."

Jane nodded. "If you like we can have an intellectual conversation about something else."

"Or we could plan our first official date?"

"Meh"

Picking up a cushion she threw it at his head.

"Hey"

"That's what you get for messing with a cop."

"I'm glad it was a pillow and nothing heavier."

"I can't guarantee the same next time."

"Fair call."

A knock on the door caught both their attention.

"You live here now you can answer it" Lisbon snuggled further into the couch.

Placing a quick peck on her lips Jane headed for the door. A few seconds later he returned with Cho.

"Sorry to interrupt boss."

"S'okay Cho what's up?"

"There's been an attack at The Court Motel."

Jane and Lisbon looked at each other.

"You used to live there right?"

Jane nodded.

"We picked up his stuff about an hour and a half ago." Lisbon moved from her seat to stand next to Jane.

"Who was attacked?"

"Jennifer Pritchard the receptionist."

"We saw her; I gave her my key when we left."

Cho nodded "that's good gives us a time frame."

"Who did it? Any ideas." Jane wound his arm around Lisbon's waist.

"We think it's Red John."


	7. Crine scene

No words needed to be said. Grabbing their coats Jane and Lisbon followed Cho out to the waiting SUV. Jane's mind rattled through possible reasons for killing Jenny. She meant nothing to him, sure it was sad that she had died (especially that way) but her death was of not real consequence to him.

"Hi Boss, Jane" Grace smiled from the passenger's seat.

Lisbon and Jane both smiled in return and climbed into the back seat. Once everyone was buckled in Cho headed to the motel.

Jane stared out the window watching the houses and perfectly manicured lawns whizz by. A small hand found its way into his and gently squeezed. Turning his head he smiled as his eyes met Lisbon's. Gently he lifted the hand to his lips and placed a kiss on the back of it.

Unbuckling her safety belt Lisbon scooted over to the middle seat and buckled up once again before resting her chin on Jane's shoulder and looking up at him "It'll be okay" she whispered.

"You don't know that Teresa." His thumb traced back and forth over her hand.

"Your right I don't. But I know that the team are going to do everything they can Patrick. They'll protect us; they'll protect me. If they don't I'll put them all on desk duty for 6 months."

Jane chuckled at Lisbon's threat.

"Just promise you'll think clearly, that you won't get Red John fever. I can't have you running off and putting yourself in danger. Not anymore. I couldn't handle it if you took off again Patrick, I wouldn't be able to…"

Jane kissed her "I'm not going anywhere. I mean I may wander around the crime scene" he smiled cheekily "but I am not leaving you Teresa. I made that mistake, never again."

"Good"

The flashing blue and red lights and yellow crime scene tape indicated that they had reached their destination.

Before anyone had a chance to leave the car Cho turned and faced his passengers "Jane if you're going to go anywhere take Van Pelt or Rigsby with you, Boss do what you do but discreetly you're technically on leave."

Lisbon and Jane agreed to Cho's terms and exited the car heading to the motel they had left earlier today. From the outside nothing was different (apart from the police cars and crime scene workers and one Wayne Rigsby standing guard.)

"What's the story Rigsby?" Cho looked at the taller agent.

"Vic was found by Betty and Edward Saunders here on vacation to see their children. They wanted to rent a room. Called the police straight away."

"Any witnesses to the crime?" Lisbon asked.

Rigsby shook his head. "No but they have video cameras. We're looking into getting hold of the tapes now. I managed to get everyone to stay away until you guys got here." Rigsby added as he opened the door to the reception area.

Jane and Lisbon were greeted by a familiar smiley face on the wall opposite the door they had just entered. Jane felt his stomach drop as he looked at the face. Rigsby took Lisbon to the back room where the body was. Violent slashes lay across her chest and stomach. Her once blonde hair was now highlighted with blood.

"Looks rushed" Jane noted as he entered the room.

"How so?" Rigsby looked over at Jane.

"The cuts seem erratically placed."

Lisbon looked down at the body – Jane was right. "Jane's right."

Jane smiled at her.

"All of the cuts on the other vics were more methodical." Lisbon tilted her head "Jane she wasn't wearing that before was she?" Lisbon pointed to the victim's neck already knowing the answer.

Bending closer to the body Jane saw a necklace around Jenny's neck. _A cross. _He mused. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and shook his head.

"It looks a bit like my cross" Lisbon stated.

Jane could only nod his head. Kneeling down next to the body Jane inspected it closely. The cross around Jenny's neck was a little smaller then Lisbon's, the chain a little longer. "It does a little."

"What do you think it means?" Rigsby wondered as he looked down at the body.

"It's a message I'd say." Jane replied as he stalked around the room looking for only he knew what.

"A message to who though?"

"Me" Jane sighed "all his messages are to me."

Jane stopped at the coffee table and picked up a bloodied piece of paper "Lisbon."

She was next to him moments later. Carefully Jane unfolded the paper and was greeted by three pictures.

"That looks like St. Margaret – Patron saint of death. Among other things." Lisbon pointed to the top picture. "And that's St Anne"." Lisbon moved closer to the picture.

"And what does she do?" Jane asked.

"She's Mary's mother and is the Patron saint of childless woman and that," Lisbon took a deep breath "is St Teresa."

"We've seen enough" Jane handed the picture to Rigsby, grabbed Lisbon be the hand and left. Cho followed them to the car.

"Patrick slow down!" Lisbon took longer strides trying to keep up with Jane who was virtually running to the car.

Wrenching open the door Jane ushered Lisbon inside before sliding in next to her. "You okay?" Jane turned to look at her; his eyes were wide like a wild man.

"I'm fine. You however" Lisbon's voice petered off.

Cho jumped in the drivers set and set off.

"It's different this time." Cho looked at Jane through the rear view mirror.

Jane nodded and stole a look at Lisbon.

"Want me to drop you at home boss?"

Both Lisbon and Cho knew it wasn't really up for debate. Lisbon smiled at her agent before turning to look at Jane. She was losing him to the world of Red John again.

Stepping into her apartment a feeling of relief instantly swept over Lisbon. Throwing her jacket over the coat rack she headed to the kitchen. The couch beckoned Jane and he answered its call. Other than asking if Lisbon was okay he hadn't spoken since they left the crime scene. His Red John saturated thoughts were broken when a cup of tea was thrust in his face. Slowly he sat up and accepted the gift.

Sitting next to him Lisbon nursed her own cup. "Whatchya thinking about?" She knew she just needed him to talk to her.

"I'm thinking about how beautiful you look" he smiled.

"No you're not."

His face fell.

"Patrick tell me."

He took another sip of his tea. "You are beautiful bit I'm trying to figure out why he killed Jenny."

"Do you know much about her?"

He shook his head.

"At least we know what the pictures meant." Lisbon rolled her eyes. "Come on. The Patron saint of childless women; I have no children, the saint of death and St Teresa. I'm Teresa. Bosco used to call me St Teresa, you have too."

"I know. It wasn't very subtle. Why her? She doesn't even look anything like you." He mused aloud.

Lisbon shrugged "do you think she holds a clue?"

"No idea" he drunk more tea. "Why is it I can catch other murderers but not him."

Lisbon cocked her head "you know why. You're too close to it that and he doesn't make mistakes."

"He does, he has."

"When?"

James smiled "when he made you a target. We're going to get him this time."

"That's what I was going to say."

Jane placed a hand lovingly on her leg "too slow Teresa."

She hummed happily. "If I go and take a nap will you be here when I wake up?"

It broke his heart that she still thought he would leave. "I'll do you one better, I'll join you."

"It's just sleeping Patrick; I'm not ready for anything else just yet."

He nodded his understanding and finished his drink.

Silently Lisbon took his hand and went upstairs.

"Patrick" she whispered a few minutes later.

"Teresa" her replied pulling her closer so their foreheads were touching.

"Do you think it's strange that we haven't had sex yet? Does it, does it bother you?"

"Strange no, unfortunate yes. We've been together less than a week. What kind of guy do you think I am?"

Lisbon chuckled "oh I know exactly what kind of guy you are."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh a frustrating one."

Thanks for reading. I know this one is short but the next chapter just didn't feel right being tagged on the end. Anyways review please. Thanks.


	8. A red rose by any other name

By the time Cho returned to the crime scene the photos had been taken, surfaces swabbed and evidence collected. Informing his team to put it under the case name Joanna Ryan he then informed them that they were leaving.

"Why the different case name?" Rigsby asked his temporary boss.

"Don't know who we can trust at CBI." Cho stepped on the accelerator wanting to get to work as soon as possible.

Stepping foot in the bull pen the team went straight to work; Van Pelt started trolling the video footage they'd managed to get from the very helpful owner of the motel, Rigsby checked out the victim's background and Cho took the evidence to the evidence locker himself.

Van Pelt decided to start looking at the video footage from this morning and work her way backwards. She knew (they all knew) how careful Red John was he never made a mistake. She hoped that this time he did, that the fact that he had rushed meant that he had done something wrong, left something behind. Closing her eyes she sent a quick prayer off into the world and began her search for something that would crack the case open and save them all.

_Jennifer Pritchard_

_DOB: 18/05/1982_

_Born in Fortuna California_

Rigsby read.

_Parents: Felicity & Carter Pritchard (deceased)_

_Siblings: Jared Pritchard (younger)_

_No arrest record_

_Current residential address: 178 Delilah Avenue, Rosemont, Sacramento, California._

Rigsby noted down her address and kept reading. Finding nothing else of interest he began to look for further information.

Satisfied that the evidence was safe Cho sat at his desk and began to go through the statements of Mr and Mrs Saunders who had found the victim. They had been interviewed separately and both noted seeing a green pick-up truck park in the parking lot taking up two spaces.

Cho was pretty sure that the chances of finding the truck without licence plate details would be a very long shot – but he had to try. No way was this Red John bastard getting away with threatening his family – Lisbon was like a sister to him and Jane an annoying older brother. "Van Pelt let me know if you see a green pick-up in any of the footage."

"Will do."

_This case is going to suck. _Cho thought as he went back to the statements.

Closing the windows on his computer Rigsby grabbed the list of motel occupants to see if any of the names rang a bell.

_Zara Welsh_

_Phillip Cochrane_

_Vanessa Pearce and Will Miller_

_Deanne Wilkinson_

_Juan Rosso_

_Adrian Collins_

_Ryan and Serena Vega_

_Patrick Jane_

_Krystal Gavins_

Smiling he put a cross through Jane's name.

"Found anything Rigsby?"

"Nothing Cho." Rigsby threw the list onto his desk. "I'm getting coffee who wants one?"

Van Pelt and Cho both said yes.

Grace looked up from her computer "Cho I might have something."

It turns out when Lisbon said nap what she really meant was stare at the ceiling and think about Red John and Jane. She hated how thinking of one automatically brought up the other. Well not all the time she never thought of Red John when Jane was kissing her. She smiled at the thought. Slowly turning her head she saw that Jane had his head buried in her neck, his arm thrown over her waist. Jane's words rang through her head "_he knows that I love you. He knows that hurting you, killing you will be the one thing that brings me to my knees. He's always known. He knew I loved you before I did"_

Out of all the possible things she could be doing right now lying in bed with Patrick Jane cuddled next to here was not even considered. He loved her. She found it hard to fathom. She believed him but after wanting it to be true for so long it came as a shock.

With Jane sleeping next to her she decided to take the time to admit that she was scared of what was going to happen. _Would there be a Red John showdown? Would Patrick rip him limb from limb? What would Patrick do if it was a choice between her and Red John?_ She closed her eyes not wanting to think about that at all. She liked to think he'd pick her that he'd decide on a day in court for Red John and not prison for himself. His reaction towards Thomas Carter told her otherwise.

Turning her head once more she placed her lips to Jane's forehead. A smile graced her lips as she felt his forehead crinkle. Slowly his fingers began to knead her waist.

"Teresa" he sighed.

"How'd you sleep?" she whispered as she pulled away to look at his face.

"Pretty good. You?" His eyes opened to look into hers.

Shaking her head slightly she bit her lip "I didn't."

Frowning Jane pulled her closer.

"I just kept thinking about him over and over." She confessed "wondering how this will all end, what will happen to us."

"Well" Jane blinked his eyes trying to push away the sleep "in the end he gets caught, Grace and Wayne admit they still love each other and we all live happily ever after."

"We?"

"You and me."

"And what happens to Red John?"

Jane blinked at her his sleepy brain still trying to catch up. "Hmm?'

"Red John" she repeated "what happens to him?"

"He loses, we win."

Lisbon closed her eyes "what I am trying to say is do you, do you still want him dead?"

"Yes I do."

"So you're still willing to go to jail for him?"

"I never said that."

"You never denied it either."

"Teresa. Do you think I'd go to jail for him? Now that I have you?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Well, let me answer you."

Leaning forward Jane pressed his lips to hers. A sigh left her lips as he deepened the kiss. Jane's fingers flexed on her waist. Slowly his tongue traced her bottom lip requesting entrance. Lisbon gladly complied. A groan escaped Jane lips. Reluctantly he pulled away needing breath. "I'm not giving you up. You're stuck with me now."

"Wish you'd told me that before we started this, I may have reconsidered."

"Liar" Jane smiled.

"More like a white lie" she jested.

"It's still a lie" Jane informed as his finger gently ran up and down her arm. "You know you were always a terrible liar."

Lisbon rolled her eyes "you always tell me that."

"That's because it is always true" Jane whispered against her lips before kissing her again.

"How do you know when I'm lying anyway?"

"You my dear, have a tell."

"No I don't"

"Afraid you do."

"Really Mr Jane" Lisbon raised an eyebrow "and what prey tell is my tell?"

"I could tell you but…"Jane's eyes scanned the room.

"But what?"

"Well if I told you then you would be aware of it and you would try and change it."

"You have a tell too ya know?"

Jane shuffled closer to increase their already complicated tangle of limbs "really? What is it?"

Lisbon bit her lip "I don't know if I should tell you."

"Tell me."

Lisbon shook her head slightly "I don't think I will."

The smirk on Jane's face showed trouble "oh you'll tell me."

Lisbon ran her fingers through Jane's hair "what are going to do? Hypnotise me?"

Jane thought for a second "no, not hypnotise per say."

Lisbon looked at him sceptically. Before she had a chance to ask him what his plan was his fingers began to tickle her sides.

"No!" she screamed trying to squirm away. "Patrick stop."

"It appears that Teresa Lisbon the tough cop is ticklish."

"S-Stop please Patrick stop it!"

Thankfully Lisbon was saved by Jane's burn phone ringing.

"Kenny; long time no see."

"Kenny's a horrible name." Cho decided from the other end of the phone.

Jane shrugged "it's your name not mine."

"I guess it is. You got a couple of minutes?"

"Sure." Grabbing a piece of paper as 'Kenny' instructed Jane wrote down the details dictated to him.

"Let me know if you find anything Jay-Jay."

"Will do, give me love to the family." Hanging up the phone Jane started down at the list.

_Zara Welsh_

_Phillip Cochrane_

_Vanessa Pearce and Will Miller_

_Deanne Wilkinson_

_Juan Rosso_

_Adrian Collins_

_Ryan and Serena Vega_

_Patrick Jane_

_Krystal Gavins_

"What's that?" Lisbon wondered shuffling closer.

"List of guests staying at the motel."

Lisbon watched closely as Jane started to cross off names starting with his own.

"Glad you ruled yourself out as a suspect."

Jane hummed in agreement but his eyes never left the paper. Quietly Lisbon left the room and headed to the kitchen to make tea. As she turned to head back upstairs with tea in hand she noticed that Jane had relocated to the living room. Carefully she placed the tea of the coffee table before sitting down next to Jane.

"So have you found anything?"

Jane turned to her "I think I have."

What has he found? Read the next chapter to find out.


	9. A red herring?

I cannot apologise enough for how long it has taken me to get this chapter up. In my defence I was in the middle of nowhere for Christmas and New Year. I am back now. Thanks for sticking with me.

"What did you find Van Pelt?" Cho stood next to her desk.

"I got a partial plate on the green pick up." Playing the video Cho noted the time stamp 3.45pm.

"This is when Jane and the boss left the motel." She forwarded the tape "and this is when the pick up arrived." The time read 4.02pm. She paused on the pick up which clearly showed Arizona plates starting with FEP.

"Good work."

"Thanks."

Lisbon frowned at Jane "seriously you found something?"

Jane nodded as he tilted the paper towards her.

Lisbon scanned the list.

_Zara Welsh_

_Phillip Cochrane_

_Vanessa Pearce and Will Miller_

_Deanne Wilkinson_

_Juan Rosso_

_Adrian Collins_

_Ryan and Serena Vega_

_Patrick Jane_

_Krystal Gavins_

"Well Juan Russo means John Red."

Jane hummed his agreement "too obvious though."

Lisbon shook her head "other than your name and Juan's none of them stick out to me."

"I wouldn't expect them to."

Pulling out her phone she sent a text to Kenny telling him to look into Juan that he was maybe a friend of RJ's.

"You going to share?"

Jane tapped the name with the end of his pen.

"Who is Phillip Cochrane?"

"His wife Nina was a client of mine back in my psychic days." Jane placed the paper on the coffee table. "Phillip didn't believe in my ability. They would argue because I saw her once a week. I wasn't cheap."

Lisbon shuffled closer. "What happened?"

Patrick closed his eyes.

**Patrick sat back down and sipped on the tea that Nina had made for him. It was some kind of apple blossom tea, not his favourite but it would do in a pinch. Even though his client and her husband were in the other room he could hear them arguing.**

"**He's a fraud Nina! Why can't you see that?"**

"**No he's not!"**

**Patrick smiled.**

"**He's a psychic; he knows things about me that no one else does."**

"**Even me?"**

**Nina laughed cruelly "especially you."**

**Raising an eyebrow Patrick filed that little piece of information away for further use.**

"**Like what?"**

**Silence followed "like what Nina."**

"**N-Nothing."**

**Patrick heard foot steps shortly before Nina rejoined him.**

"**Sorry Patrick."**

**Smiling at his mark he placed his tea cup on the table "it's fine my dear. I was just mediating; didn't hear a thing. Come." Patrick held out his hand for her. **

"As far as marks go she was pretty easy" Present day Jane explained.

**Patrick placed his hands palm up and Nina placed her hands in his. "Clear your mind." After a minute or so he spoke again "You're hiding something?"**

**She nodded slightly.**

"**Something big"**

**Another nod.**

"**You're sick."**

**Choking back a sob she nodded once more. "Poly cystic kidney disease."**

**Patrick nodded solemnly. Snooping around the house and finding bottle upon bottle of medication had paid off.**

"**What have the doctors told you?"  
**

"**That I don't have long. I'm going to die Patrick."**

"**Well let's do our best to make sure you're ready to pass to the other side when your time comes."**

"She died 6 weeks later. She went from seeing me once a week to twice a week. She refused treatment; seemed to think that I could cleanse her. I tried to get her to go to the hospital by saying the spirits suggested it but she wouldn't listen."

"It's not your fault she died Patrick."

"Tell that to her husband. He swore he'd get revenge but I thought it was the grief talking."

**Patrick found himself being slammed into a wall repeatedly by Phillip Cochrane "She died because of you" Phillip growled.**

"**She died because she was sick."**

**Phillip moved his face closer to Patricks "Why are you here?"**

"**I can to pay my respects."**

"**If you had just left her alone she would have spent her time trying to get better not preparing to died."**

"**I understand how you are feeling but it was her decision."**

"**You have no idea how I am feeling. Your wife is still alive and until she is no longer with you you will never know how I feel."**

**Before Patrick got a chance to retort Phillip turned and walked back towards the church. As he reached the church doors he stopped and turned around.**

"**If I ever see you again you will regret it."**

Lisbon grabbed his hand "you think he might be Red John?"

"I think it's worth looking into."

Hanging up the phone from Lisbon Cho turned to Van Pelt "check out Phillip Cochrane. His deceased wife was one of Jane's old clients. Apparently he threatened Jane."

"On it" Van Pelt declared as she returned to her seat.

"Do you think it's the same guy?" Rigsby wondered out loud.

"No idea but we'll find out. Lisbon also suggested we look into Juan Russo; she thinks that it was Red John or an accomplice trying to throw us off."

Rigsby nodded. "How'd I miss that Juan Russo? John Red."

Cho shrugged. "Happens to the best of us."

"Not Jane."

"Jane is a freak of nature."

"Patrick! Relax; Cho will call us when he finds something."

Jane simply looked at Lisbon and continued to pace. "I don't like not knowing what is happening."

Lisbon couldn't help but chuckle "well now you know how I feel every time you put one of your little plans into action."

"I don't know how you put up with it; this is torture."

Lisbon shrugged "you get used to it."

"How?"

"Drinking helps" Lisbon joked. Hearing her burn phone beep Lisbon picked it up and read the text message. "Why didn't you mention that Cochrane filed a civil suit against you?"

Jane shrugged "he lost."

"Patrick he lost that case 3 weeks before the first murder."

Jane's pacing stopped as he stared at her. A familiar look washed over his face, one Lisbon had seen too many times before; guilt.

"S'not your fault Patrick" Lisbon slowly walked to him "none of this is your fault. Besides we don't even know if he's the right guy."

Jane swallowed audibly and grabbed Lisbon's hands with his own which were shaking. He felt numb; if Cochrane was in fact Red John then he could have prevented all of the killings before they happened.

"Patrick'

He looked down to see Lisbon's eyes searching his "stop thinking so much."

Jane slowly shook his head "Teresa" his voice was so quiet "I don't know if I can do this anymore."

Well… let me know what you think.


	10. Gear up

Cho sat at his desk looking at the information that Van Pelt had just given him. It had Cochrane's address on it (although Cho was sure it was a dummy address.) As well as information on where he worked. Rigsby had called posing as a client and found out that Cochrane hadn't worked there for about 3 months.

Cho was worried. He wished that they had another person to watch their backs, he wished they had another gun, he wished his Boss was here.

"Gear up" he looked at Van Pelt and Rigsby.

"Should we call Jane?" Grace asked from the back seat.

Cho shook his head "I want to see if this pans out first."

The rest of the trip to Cochrane's home was silent as each member of the team went over their part in the plan. Rigsby hoped like hell that this guy was Red John and that they caught him for Jane and Grace, Cho wanted to kick the guys ass then shoot him in the face and Grace just wanted Jane to be happy.

"Remember Grace" Rigsby turned to face her "you're with Cho the whole time."

"I know Wayne."

"We don't want him to grab you."

"I know Wayne." Grace rolled her eyes "I don't see why."

"Grace"

She looked at Cho, he never called her Grace "if this guy is Red John he may grab you. No way we are going to risk that."

Van Pelt understood but it annoyed her, because she was a girl it seemed that Rigsby and Cho thought she was a lesser agent. As the SUV pulled up a few houses away from their designated target all three agents took deep breaths and got into position.

Lisbon blinked at Jane. "What do you mean you can't do this anymore?" a million thoughts shot through her brain the first being that he was going to leave again. He didn't answer her straight away "Patrick" she began more softly "what do you mean?"

"Teresa" he sighed.

"Please talk to me."

He turned to look at her and saw the fear in her eyes.

"This whole thing."

Lisbon sucked in a breath.

"Waiting for him. I feel like we're sitting ducks. I'm sick of it Teresa, I'm sick of him. I'm over it."

Lisbon let out the breath that she was holding in. A look of relief washed over her face.

Jane's eyes grew wider as he looked at her. "What's wrong?" Slowly he stepped closer to her as though she was an injured animal "You thought I was over this?" he pointed to her and then himself and then chuckled "oh my angry little princess you're stuck with me now." He smiled brightly at her a beautiful smile that Lisbon noticed was genuine but didn't quite reach his eyes.

Rigsby stood at the front door of Cochrane's supposed address while Cho and Van Pelt in the backyard beside the small veranda. Double checking that Rigsby was in place he gave the word for the front door to be breeched.

Cho heard Rigsby kick open the door through his ear piece indicating that it was time for him and Van Pelt to enter the house. Guns drawn Cho and Van Pelt met Rigsby in the living room after they cleared the house.

"Didn't find anyone but I found something interesting." Rigsby turned and lead his team mates down the hall the last room on the left. Pushing the door open with his elbow he heard Van Pelt gasp behind him. On two of the walls were stuck picture after picture of Jane and Lisbon. It was obvious that they had been taken with a long lens.

"This is creepy" Van Pelt whispered as she walked further into the room. Candid photos of Lisbon walking into work, walking out of the grocery store. Photos of Lisbon and Jane at crime scenes.

"How long has he been following them?"

Rigsby wondered.

"No idea: Cho replied as he scanned the photos."

"I hope this guy is Red John; for Jane's sake" Van Pelt confessed.

"Me too Grace" Rigsby smiled at her.

"Alright" Cho looked at his team mates "let's get this crime scene processed."

It had been two days since Lisbon had heard from the team. Usually she would understand, usually it wouldn't bother her but seeing as she seemed to be Red John's next intended victim and they were closer to Red John than ever to catching the scum bag she figured that maybe the team would keep her informed. That wasn't too much to ask was it? Her thoughts were interrupted by her burn phone ringing. After a quick conversation she hung up the phone and went in search of Jane. She couldn't help but smile as she watched him exit the bathroom wearing and undershirt and jeans his hair still damp from the shower.

"There you are" she smiled.

"Did you miss me?"

"Not exactly" she frowned at him.

Jane held his hand to his heart "I'm heart broken."

"The team found something they are on their way over." She blurted out.

Jane blinked at her "huh." Turning Jane made his way to the bedroom

While Jane pottered around upstairs Lisbon made her way to the kitchen to make a tea and stress cleaned.

When Jane made his way downstairs Lisbon was scrubbing the kitchen bench.

Slowly he walked up behind her "Teresa."

"Hmm" she replied still scrubbing.

"You okay?"

"Yup" she replied in a voice higher than normal.

Reaching out his hand he placed it on top of hers "I think the bench is clean enough."

Lisbon smiled at him sheepishly before putting the scrubbing brush back on its rightful place. "I made tea."

"Where did the stress cleaning come from?" Jane wondered aloud as he sipped his tea.

Shrugging Lisbon followed his action "when I was young I guess. My brothers were stressful growing up. I felt helpless a lot of the time but cleaning the house was one thing I could control."

Jane nodded his understanding. "Shall we sit and wait for the team to arrive?" Jane offered Lisbon her hand. She took it and let him lead her to the couch. "Much better" he sighed as he sunk into the comfortable furniture.

"What is it with you and couches?"

"We have an understanding." A cheeky smirk fell on his face.

"You're like the couch whisperer."

"Of sorts" he conceded. "When do you think the team will be here?" Jane voices as his fingers traced patterns on her arm.

"They shouldn't be too far away."

As if on cue they heard a knock on the door.

"What have you got?" Lisbon asked.

Cho looked for Lisbon to Jane and back again. "We got a warrant for Cochrane's house. He wasn't there but we found a room that had photos taped on the wall. Photos of you two."

Jane's body visibly stiffened. "How old do you think they are?"

"It's hard to tell" Van Pelt added her voice quiet.

Rigsby pulled out the photos he had taken and passed them to Lisbon. She gasped as she saw photo and photo plastered on the wall.

"We also found these." Cho passes Jane pieces of paper that were wrapped in evidence bags he looked down and read the first one.

'Dear Mister Jane,  
I do not like to be slandered in the media, especially by a dirty money-grubbing fraud.  
If you were a real psychic instead of a dishonest little worm, you wouldn't need to open the door to know what I've done to your lovely wife and child.'

Jane's breath hitched as he continued to read the notes that Red John had sent him over the years. "It's him" He whispered "he's Red John."


End file.
